Dear Bro. Hamilton,<\/p>\n
I trust you are doing well. Thank you for the great work you continue to do in the Lord’s vineyard.<\/p>\n
I’m writing to seek your opinion on an issue that has been troubling me. A brother offended me, and I reached out to him directly to address the matter. However, he dismissed my concerns, claimed he had forgotten the incident, and subsequently blocked my phone line.<\/p>\n
In an effort to resolve the situation, I involved two other brethren who then contacted him on a conference call to discuss what had happened. During the call, he said he was sorry for all the evil things he had ever done, but he did not specifically mention or acknowledge what he had done in relation to the matter we were discussing. He also expressed dissatisfaction with the way I handled the issue-particularly that I had spoken to some brethren before approaching him directly. I had already admitted and acknowledged that I was wrong in that regard when I spoke with him in person, before involving the two brethren.<\/p>\n
Despite his general apology, he still has my line blocked, and there seems to be no effort on his part to restore fellowship. This makes me wonder whether true repentance has taken place, especially considering that Matthew 18:15-17 emphasizes restoration between brethren.<\/p>\n
My concern now is: what can I do to facilitate repentance and the restoration of our relationship? We no longer worship in the same congregation, and I do not even know which congregation he currently attends. We live far apart, and the only means of communication is by phone, which, as mentioned, has been blocked.<\/p>\n
I truly desire to handle this matter in a godly and scriptural manner, and I value your wisdom on how best to proceed.<\/p>\n\t
What you mentioned was the correct way to handle the situation. You reached out to the brother who offended you, but he refused to listen to what you said. You asked for help from a few others, and they reached out to you. While he says he was sorry, there is no sign that he has actually changed. I guess that he was embarrassed about having to explain his actions before witnesses. That is why he accused you of mishandling the situation.<\/p>\n
You’ve done what you could. You can’t force someone to do the right thing. The rest will be between him and the Lord. It is time to move on with your life.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Dear Bro. Hamilton, I trust you are doing well. Thank you for the great work you continue to do in the Lord’s vineyard. I’m writing to seek your opinion on an issue that has been troubling me. A brother offended me, and I reached out to him directly to address the matter. However, he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1571,50],"class_list":["post-92704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-forgiveness","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31349,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-brother-had-an-affair-for-five-years-and-says-he-repented-should-he-be-used-in-service-to-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":92704,"position":0},"title":"If a brother had an affair for five years and says he repented, should he be used in service to God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A brother had a five-year affair. His wife didn't know about the affair. He says he has repented. Can he work in the worship service and be one of the spiritual leaders? What does he need to do? Answer: \"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53899,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-someone-attends-but-hasnt-become-a-member-and-then-stops-coming-should-you-withdraw-from-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":92704,"position":1},"title":"If someone attends, but hasn’t become a member, and then stops coming, should you withdraw from him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Someone begins attending a congregation but does not ask to be a member there. He starts forsaking the assembly. Can you withdraw from him? He was baptized. Answer: Before I answer the question, I want to note that some congregations add people to their membership simply because they keep\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58603,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/paul-barnabas-and-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":92704,"position":2},"title":"Paul, Barnabas, and Us!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin We received an email communication from a man named Joe. He is a member of the First Christian Church. He has been using the Internet to search for \"people of like-minded faith.\" In his letter, Joe explains what he sees as the necessary conditions before he can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21733,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-detailed-does-a-confession-of-sin-have-to-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":92704,"position":3},"title":"How detailed does a confession of sin have to be?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How detailed does a confession of sin have to be? Do you need to list out all that you've done wrong? Answer: First, we need to remind ourselves what is the purpose of confession. Confessing our sins means we are facing up to the fact that we were in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68919,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-resolve-a-conflict-between-two-brethren\/","url_meta":{"origin":92704,"position":4},"title":"How do we resolve a conflict between two brethren?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings sir. I trust you have been doing well. I have a matter that needs your advice on dealing with conflict resolution. I have these two brethren who had a misunderstanding over a report on the church building project. They belong to the team overseeing the project. One is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43266,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-deal-with-the-fact-that-my-daughters-were-molested-by-a-leading-member-of-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":92704,"position":5},"title":"How do I deal with the fact that my daughters were molested by a leading member of the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there, I have a complex issue that I am trying to sort through biblically and do right by my family, others, and the law. Two of my daughters have been sexually interfered with by a \"leader\" of the local church here.\u00a0 The first time was with my oldest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}